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April 1, 2004 Plains Folk: Tarras Church
Arriving at the pale stucco church, we first took a stroll through the spruce grove and around back into an irrigated paddock. We had a fine view of the paradise ducks taking their tithe of forage. Returning to the church we found Ann Trevathan making preparations for worship. She situated two vases of fresh-cut dahlias in front of the sanctuary, got the tea things ready and carried in thermoses. Vicar Barry Entwisle was getting into his vestments. His wife Joan sat in the car, her lap a pile of yarn, knitting until time for services. Heather Perriam took her accustomed seat at the organ, and by starting time a few more parishioners were in place. This was the monthly Anglican service at Tarras Church, sparsely attended. On another Sunday of the month the Presbyterians would hold a service in the same building. Tarras is a country town in the Lindis valley of Central Otago, on the South Island of New Zealand. Attending services at Tarras was a matter of worship, of personal interest and of professional inquiry. At home I attend a country church, Swedish Lutheran in its lineage. I also devote considerable time to the work of preserving prairie churches through the programs of our statewide historic preservation association. Most particularly, though, we came to Tarras because of the kneelers. In 1993 New Zealand celebrated its centennial of women’s suffrage. The women of Tarras Church, organized as the Tarras Branch of the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers, observed the milestone by making kneelers (Anglicans kneel during liturgy) depicting the history of the district and of their families. The needlepoint kneelers were to some degree standardized, with common dimensions, a common blue base cloth, and certain design motifs. Beyond that, it was up to the woman doing the needlepoint to decide what ought to be represented. This was a beautiful instance of historical memory in action. Each woman made conscious decisions as to what was historic about her family in this place. Later Jeannette Emerson, of Forest Range Station, took the lead in compiling images of the kneelers and stories of the families into a book, “A Tapestry of Tarras.” The needlepoint images are remarkable. Many women foregrounded their love of gardening: roses, irises, lupines, and daisies figure prominently. Family, too, is emphasized by depiction of ancestors, children, pets and homes. Merino sheep, the district’s economic mainstay, and gray rabbits, its animal nemesis, adorn many kneelers. Finally, quite a few women were self-consciously historical in that they depicted historic landmarks: the Lindis Hotel, a miner’s hut or a woolshed. Getting back to the worship service, I was impressed with one particular feature in the liturgy, the Benedicite Aotearoa, a sort of psalm of New Zealand. In the course of naming the various flora and fauna of the islands, the vicar tactfully altered the printed phrase “rabbit and cattle” and said instead “sheep and cattle.” Vicar Entwisle’s sermon took the parable of the fig tree as text in support of two points: that all are deserving of mercy and should be provided for, even if unworthy, and that trees should be saved even if they don’t make money. A perfect Kiwi sermon: social democracy combined with environmentalism. Remembering the kneelers, the psalm, even the sermon, now here at home on the plains I’m wondering, why do our religious observances lack this grounding in the land? Have we no psalmists on the prairies? ### Source:
Tom Isern, (701) 799-2942, isern@plainsfolk.com
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here for a TIF photo of Tom Isern that is suitable for printing.
Click
here for a TIF photo of Tom Isern wearing a hat that is suitable for printing. |
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